Page 131 of His Wild Seduction

Meredith was sitting in the corner of the lone, sectional, outdoor sofa with all the other women, just sipping her red wine and lemon-lime soda spritz that Destiny made her, sharing stories, and simply being.

Her happiness was contagious. I needed to be near her, so I stood up and ambled over, ignoring Marat and Adrik.

“You owe me twenty dollars,” Adrik told his brother.

“No way. I said he would break first,” Marat argued.

“Did not. You said I would break first,” Adrik growled.

Fuckers, I thought, shaking my head.

“No way. Andres, what was our bet?” Marat called to Andres who was building a racetrack with Sammy.

“Marat pay Adrik,” Andres said, shaking his head.

I placed my hands on my wife’s shoulders. The pink silk blouse she wore felt cool beneath my palms, and I was glad she was comfortable.

“Hey, Babe,” she said, her pretty green eyes smiling at me. “Wanna join us?”

“Would I be interrupting?” I asked, hating to infringe on girl time.

“Not at all,” Ellie answered when Meredith seemed frozen in her stare.

I returned her smile and sat beside her, careful to situate myself on the other side of my wife, so I was on the end of the sofa and not near any of the other women. It wasn’t that I didn’t like them, but I knew how possessive the men were of their wives.

As for Ellie, the younger woman was always a little wary whenever any of us got too close. Knowing her history, I understood, and tried to make myself as still and small as possible.

“You having fun?” I whispered in her ear, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.

Meredith hummed and leaned into me, and I kissed her temple.

“Yeah. I really am. Thank you.”

“You never have to thank me, Wife.”

“Maybe not. But I will. So just say you’re welcome,” she chided.

“You are most welcome, Little Red.”

My eyes were all on her, but I saw Adrik and Marat snuggle up to their wives in the periphery of my vision.

I never thought I would see the day those two formidable men would find happiness, but they had.

And it dawned on me I was just like them. Or maybe they were like me.

Once upon a time, I had no one and nothing.

No job. No money. No family. No friends. No woman.

But now, I had everything.

And she was right there in my arms.

The sound of a child squealing with laughter filled my ears, and I turned to see Andres tossing Sammy in the air and catching him before falling to the grassy patch of earth where they were playing.

“Sammy!” Ellie called his name, the young mother rushing to make sure her son was unharmed.

Andres’ eyes burned as he watched her check the boy over, then nodded as he ran to play on the next thing with Lucy and Michaela, with one of Marat’s staff watching over them.

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